Proposal For Phylogenic Classification, Advances Bread Clip Science

A publication in this month’s BMJ Case Reports, a peer-reviewed publication of the British Medical Journal, offers a “proposal for phylogenic plastic bag clip classification”. Contributing authors include John Daniel of the Holotypic Occlupanid Research Group (HORG).

Over 20 cases of accidental ingestion of plastic bag clips have been published. Known complications include small bowel perforation, obstruction, dysphagia, gastrointestinal bleeding and colonic impaction. Preoperative diagnosis of plastic clips lodged in the gastrointestinal tract is frustrated due to radiographic translucency. This occult threat could likely be prevented by the design of gastrointestinally safe, plastic-bag-sealing devices. Presented here is a morphologically based classification of bag clips as a possible guide for determining the most hazardous varieties and to aid further discussions of their impact on health.
[BMJ Case Reports: Lehmer, Ragsdale, Daniel, Hayashi, Kvalstad, 2011]

The full paper is behind the BMJ paywall, but here are some excerpted illustrations: